If I have the Wii version of the peripherals, is it possible to use them with my Xbox 360?

The reason I think this would be possible is because they are midi-capable instruments that can be plugged into my computer and work fine there, and they communicate to the Wii using a USB dongle. Since the Xbox has USB ports as well, it is physically possible to connect them to my Xbox without any further modifications.

Will they actually work to play the game, however?

Is there some way I can make them work if it's not just as simple as plug and play? I am willing to spend money on a third-party peripheral to "translate" if necessary for this functionality.

the only controller that worked this way was the $299 Fender Squier Stratocaster, which has since been discontinued. It had a generic midi out, and you had to buy one of the platform specific midi dongles (Xbox/PS3/Wii) to connect it to your console. Nothing else to date like this.
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Jeff Atwood♦Nov 21 '11 at 18:19

4 Answers
4

No. Despite the fact that all 3 consoles use USB as the connection protocol for the instruments, the actual signals sent and button layouts of the controllers mean that none of the controllers can be used on other platforms.

I find this to be an astoundingly stupid design decision by Harmonix. The names of the buttons are different, but the number of buttons is the same. The Wii peripherals even have a pressable Wii-icon button in the same place as the Xbox button.
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StrixVaria♦Oct 27 '10 at 20:25

6

It's not Harmonix's decision. The console manufacturers don't want want you to use your Wii instrument on Xbox, they want you to buy an Xbox instrument that they get a licensing fee from. And, of course, they want their logo in your face, not a competitor's.
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lilserfOct 27 '10 at 20:45

And this is why I hate proprietary design. It would have been a near trivial addition to make one drum set that works on all three systems (given that they had to design a drum set anyway). They have identical physical designs.
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StrixVaria♦Oct 27 '10 at 21:33

Be happy that MS laid down the law to the game makers at least--you can't even play GH2 on the 360 if you have a non-GH controller plugged into the system.
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YuriPupOct 27 '10 at 21:58

Actually, I've tried this. I just opened up my PS3 Rock Band 3 guitar, and found a jumper on the main PCB labelled "jp1-jp1.5". It was soldered over jp1, so I re-soldered it over jp1.5 and guess what? 100% functional on my Wii. Jp1, it's a PS3 guitar. Jp1.5 it's Wii. Really that simple.

One could even install a switch rather then hard soldering the jumper if you would like to switch between Wii and ps3 on the fly. The hot swapping rock band controller... Mmmmm.

Interesting, but do keep in mind that any answer that involves opening up the device and soldering the components, the answer is still effectively 'no' for most gamers. But if you have the tools and are comfortable doing this, it certainly sounds like an ideal solution.
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Trent HawkinsFeb 21 '14 at 8:44